Written Answers

Tuesday 19 June 2001

Scottish Executive

Deaf People

Dorothy-Grace Elder (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what measures regarding staffing levels in audiology services it will introduce to meet any increase in service demand.

Susan Deacon: It is a matter for health boards and Trusts to assess and provide for local needs and to determine the staffing levels required for effective service delivery.

Deaf People

Dorothy-Grace Elder (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to S1W-14769 by Susan Deacon on 17 April 2001, what immediate measures will be introduced both to reduce waiting times for a clinical appointment at an audiology department and to ensure that demand for the fitting of hearing aids is met and when its review of audiology services will be completed.

Susan Deacon: The guidance issued in March and referred to in my previous answer summarised the results of current research and translated this into practical guidance on the design and delivery of services, including the technical aspects of hearing aid fittings and rehabilitative support. The guidance should help ensure better and more equitable practice across Scotland.

  We have recruited additional experts onto the Audiology Services Working Group and, in consultation with officials, they are currently looking at ways of progressing the audiology services review.

Deaf People

Dorothy-Grace Elder (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it plans to take in the light of the report by the Royal National Institute for Deaf People, Audiology in Crisis - Still Waiting to Hear .

Susan Deacon: Officials are currently considering in consultation with RNID how the institute’s research might be used to help inform the proposed wide-ranging review of audiology services.

Education

Michael Russell (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-15098 by Mr Jack McConnell on 3 May 2001, what steps it is taking to monitor any difficulties being experienced by local authorities and school boards in relation to the anomaly in the Standards in Scotland’s Schools etc. Act 2000 whereby the parents of children who are four years and six months and over when they start school are not eligible to make a placing request; how many parents of children affected by this anomaly have to date made a request for their child to attend a particular school, and how many such requests have not been granted.

Nicol Stephen: We are in contact with local authorities over the action they are taking at local level to deal with this anomoly. It is still too early to tell what the overall effect has been on entry to P1 across the country and statistics are not yet available on the number of parents affected and how many requests have not been granted.

Environment

Dorothy-Grace Elder (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-10165 by Sarah Boyack on 25 October 2000, how much in fixed penalty fines for litter offences was raised by each local authority in each of the past five years.

Rhona Brankin: The information requested is not held centrally.

Flood Prevention

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-11310 by Mr Sam Galbraith on 30 November 2000, whether the £27 million being made available for flood prevention schemes over the three years from 2001-04 has been "top-sliced" from the aggregated local authority allocations under section 94 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 and, if not, from which budget the money has been allocated.

Peter Peacock: £27.5 million for flood prevention and coast protection schemes is included in the Scottish Executive support for local authority capital expenditure published in Making a Difference for Scotland: Spending Plans for Scotland 2001-02 to 2003-04 . This will issue as capital allocations under section 94 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973.

Flood Prevention

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will establish a commission to examine policy and practice on all flood-related issues.

Rhona Brankin: Ministers place great importance on flood prevention and in ensuring that robust arrangements are in place to address flooding.

  The Executive keeps the overall position on flood-related issues under review to ensure that policy and practice is relevant and continues to take account of today’s circumstances as well as the changes arising from climate change.

  The Executive does not see a need to establish a commission to examine these issues.

Health

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will implement the World Health Organisation’s international code for marketing breast milk substitutes and, if so, by what date.

Susan Deacon: The Scottish Executive is fully committed to the promotion of breastfeeding, which is uniformly accepted as the best form of nutrition for infants.

  The provisions and restrictions on information, including advertising, relating to infant formula and follow-on formula by manufacturers and distributors are controlled in the UK by the Infant Formula and Follow-on Formula Regulations 1995 (as amended). The Food Standards Agency, Scotland is responsible for advising the Scottish Executive in relation to these regulations. I am advised by the agency that these regulations embrace the principles of the World Health Organisation Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes 1981.

Health

Dr Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to review the provision of hormone replacement therapy in the NHS.

Susan Deacon: The Scottish Executive has no plans to review the provision of hormone replacement therapy in the NHS.

  Hormone replacement therapy is available on NHS prescription and its use depends on the clinical judgement of the doctor concerned.

Health

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what respite facilities are currently available to those caring for dementia sufferers, broken down by health board area.

Susan Deacon: This information is not held centrally.

Health

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive which health boards currently operate memory clinics for dementia sufferers.

Susan Deacon: Memory clinics are provided in the following health board areas:

  Ayrshire and Arran

  Dumfries and Galloway

  Fife

  Forth valley

  Grampian

  Greater Glasgow

  Lothian

  Western Isles

  Some other health board areas provide memory loss services as part of the wider range of services for dementia sufferers.

Hepatitis

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will request to make a ministerial statement to the Parliament on the implications for people in Scotland of the English court ruling on compensation for people who contracted hepatitis C through blood transfusions on the NHS.

Susan Deacon: As indicated by the Deputy Minister for Health & Community Care during the parliamentary debate on 26 April and again during my appearance before the Health and Community Care Committee on 23 May, the Executive is considering constructively the implications of the recent English High Court ruling in the case brought under the Consumer Protection Act 1987. This is a complex issue and is being progressed as urgently as possible. An announcement will be made at the earliest possible date.

Hospitals

John Scott (Ayr) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there is currently a shortage of beds at Ayr Hospital; if so, how long this has been the case and what plans there are to address any such shortage prior to the winter.

Susan Deacon: It is for health boards and NHS Trusts to manage the planning and delivery of health services in their areas, including the provision of the right number and mix of hospital beds to meet the needs of local populations.

  The Scottish Executive is supporting NHSScotland in meeting the demands on it by providing more resources than ever before. Health spending is set to increase by more than £400 million each year from 2001-02 to 2003-04. By 2003-04, health spending will be £6.7 billion.

  To help ensure that the performance of the NHS next winter is as satisfactory as last, the Scottish Executive has asked health boards to submit draft winter plans by the end of July. These will cover the full range of issues to be addressed by an expert panel, as was done in preparing for winter 2000-01.

Justice

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-15933 by Mr Jim Wallace on 5 June 2001, what the Criminal Justice Forum’s remit is and who its members are.

Mr Jim Wallace: The remit of the Criminal Justice Forum is: "To enable the Scottish Executive and those involved in the provision of criminal justice in Scotland to take an overall view of the issues facing the criminal justice system as a whole; to provide a regular opportunity for the discussion and debate of major issues in the common interest; and to improve mutual understanding and co-operation in the interests of justice; and to advise Scottish Ministers on issues of concern to the criminal justice system as a whole".

  The members are:

  Deputy First Minister and Minister for Justice (Chairman)

  Deputy Minister for Justice

  The Lord Advocate

  The Solicitor General

  Sheriff J D Allan of Lothian and Borders, President of the Sheriffs’ Association

  Mr G Brown, The Law Society of Scotland

  Sir Roy Cameron QPM, Chief Constable, Lothian and Borders

  Mr Sandy Cameron, Director of Social Work, South Lanarkshire

  Mr Tony Cameron, Chief Executive, Scottish Prison Service

  Mr John Ewing, Chief Executive, Scottish Courts Service

  Mr Jim Gallagher, Secretary, Scottish Executive Justice Department

  Mr Douglas Keil, General Secretary, Scottish Police Federation

  Mr Andrew Lorrain-Smith, President, District Courts Association

  Ms Susan Matheson, Chief Executive, SACRO

  Lord McEwan, High Court of Justiciary

  Mr David McKenna, Chief Executive, Victim Support Scotland

  Dr J McManus, Chairman, Parole Board for Scotland

  Sheriff Principal Nicholson QC, Sheriff Principal of Lothian and Borders

  Mr Andrew Normand, Crown Agent

  Mr Michael G O’Grady, Chairman of the Advocates Criminal Law Group

  Mr Jack Urquhart, President, Association of Scottish Police Superintendents

Language Training

Michael Matheson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made with regard to the recommendations in the report Citizens of a Multilingual World by the Action Group for Languages.

Mr Jack McConnell: I had intended to respond formally to this report in March 2001. However, in order to ensure a co-ordinated, strategic approach to curriculum development within the context of National Priorities, this statement was delayed. I will outline our response in detail as soon as possible.

Local Government Finance

Andrew Wilson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive why "Local authority debt interest" in Table 7. Other expenditure categories, 1998-99 of Government Expenditure and Revenue Report 1998-99 is 30.7% of the equivalent figure for the UK and whether it will provide a detailed breakdown of this expenditure.

Angus MacKay: The UK Local Authority Debt interest figure is provided by Treasury. The Scottish value is sourced from Scottish Executive estimates of external interest payments by Scottish local authorities, based on information from the annual survey of local authority borrowing by the Institute for Public Finance. These figures exclude borrowing from the Public Works Loan Board. The rounded values for 1998-99 are: UK £0.4 billion, and Scotland £0.1 billion. The unrounded figures give a Scottish share of UK local authority debt interest of 30.7%.

  The mix of external debt interest varies from year to year. The Scottish Executive estimates that in 1998-99 some 27% of local authorities’ external interest payments were on short-term debt, 5% on long-term variable rate borrowing and 68% on long-term fixed rate borrowing.

NHS Equipment

Dorothy-Grace Elder (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to commission a report into the standard and provision of medical equipment for older or disabled people, and in particular hearing aids, similar to the report of the Audit Commission, Fully Equipped - The provision of equipment to older or disabled people by NHS trusts and social services departments in England and Wales .

Susan Deacon: A Joint Future Group Strategy Forum has been established to review existing equipment and adaptation services and how they interact, and to develop a programme of change that will result in a better-focused and more effective service for the user. The Rehabilitation Technology Advisory Group (RETSAG), set up in 1997 to guide rehabilitation services in Scotland at national level, will be represented on the strategy forum.

  In addition to this, as already stated in my answer to question S1W-14769, we are currently considering the remit and scope of a wide-ranging review of audiology services.

Prescription Charges

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-15512 by Susan Deacon on 15 May 2001, what plans it has to update the criteria regarding the conditions which confer an exemption from prescription charges.

Susan Deacon: We have no plans to update the criteria.

Roads

Irene McGugan (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive on what roads in mainland Scotland users are (a) required to pay tolls and (b) required to pay tolls where no alternative route by road exists.

Sarah Boyack: In Scotland, tolls are charged at the Erskine, Forth, Tay and Skye Bridges. Alternative road routes exist in the first three cases.

Roads

Mr Murray Tosh (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what monitoring it undertakes of trunk road and motorway closures after serious accidents; what guidance is given to police forces and network managers about closures of and diversions on trunk roads, and what guidance and funding it makes available to local authorities to signpost and maintain alternative routes.

Sarah Boyack: The Scottish Executive contracts with the new trunk road Operating Companies (OCs) contain procedures to address incidents which result in trunk road and motorway closures.

  The contracts require the OCs to record all incidents where a trunk road is closed and they are required to initiate certain actions within predefined timescales following the notification of an incident that requires the closure or partial closure of a road. The contracts require the OCs to prepare an Emergency Response Plan which is issued to the emergency services. This plan contains information which enables the police, who would initiate a road closure, to call on the OCs to provide additional resources, if necessary, to assist the emergency services and maintain safety.

  Following an emergency incident, the OCs are required to liaise with local road authorities to arrange a diversion route utilising local roads. The Scottish Executive will pay the cost of diversion signing. However, responsibility for the maintenance of local roads used as diversion routes remains with the local authority.

Roads

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will collect information on the cost to the NHSiS and local authorities in each of the last three years, in legal costs and compensation payments, of pedestrians falling because of defective pavements, and whether it will ensure that local authorities give the maintenance of pavements a higher priority.

Susan Deacon: The priority given to the maintenance of pavements, and the amount of any legal costs or compensation payments arising from defective pavements are properly matters for local authorities themselves. No such costs have had to be met by NHSScotland.

School Meals

Tommy Sheridan (Glasgow) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to ban the use of genetically modified foods in the preparation of school food.

Malcolm Chisholm: It is a matter for local authorities (where appropriate) or schools themselves to decide whether specific ingredients should be omitted from school meals. Current legislation requires that all foods or food ingredients containing approved GM soya, maize, additives or flavourings sold to caterers must be labelled. Additionally, school caterers, in line with caterers in general, must ensure that, either through labels, notices or access to oral advice, the final consumer can obtain information about any GM ingredients in the food on sale.

  All genetically modified foods are subject to a rigorous safety assessment before they can be marketed in the EU. The Food Standards Agency is the UK competent authority for approving GM foods and is satisfied that the only GM ingredients currently approved and on sale in the UK, soya and maize, are as safe to eat as their conventional counterparts.

Sheltered Housing

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many very sheltered housing dwellings it is estimated are required in the current financial year.

Jackie Baillie: There are no centrally held estimates of the numbers of very sheltered dwellings required in the current financial year.

Social Work

Mr Lloyd Quinan (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-15189 by Mr Jim Wallace on 10 May 2001, what specific duties and responsibilities local authorities have in relation to offering advice, guidance and assistance to those released from prison having been wrongly convicted of an offence.

Iain Gray: The Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 places a statutory duty on local authorities to make available social work assistance in the form of advice, guidance and assistance on release from custody.

  The objectives of voluntary assistance aim to provide a range of supportive services to offenders to assist in the reintegration of an offender into the community and reduce the risk of reoffending. Such services might be in the form of advice on access to benefits, accommodation, education and training or alcohol/drugs rehabilitation.

Special Educational Needs

Michael Russell (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-15921 by Nicol Stephen on 5 June 2001, what representations it has received from local authorities regarding any difficulties they have in meeting the costs of placing children in (a) grant-aided and (b) independent special schools.

Nicol Stephen: The Scottish Executive has received no formal representations.

Special Educational Needs

Michael Russell (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what provision it makes in grants to local authorities for the costs of sending children to (a) grant-aided and (b) independent special schools.

Nicol Stephen: Local authorities fund the costs of children they place at grant-aided or independent special schools from funding provided by the Scottish Executive through the local government finance settlement. In 2001-02 this funding includes £199.697 million for special educational needs, which was an increase of 11.7% on 2000-01.

Special Educational Needs

Michael Russell (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much each local authority budgeted to spend on sending children to (a) grant-aided and (b) independent special schools at the start of financial year 2000-01 and how much each actually spent.

Nicol Stephen: This information is not collected centrally.

Telecommunications

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what options it is considering to facilitate the rollout of the necessary telecommunications infrastructure to enable broadband Internet access across Scotland.

Ms Wendy Alexander: The Scottish Executive is examining different approaches to aggregating public sector procurements with the objective of extending availability of broadband services. Our thinking has been informed by extensive discussions with telcos, examination of experience in other countries and information from local authorities on current practices.

  We are currently identifying partners who might work together and geographies across which they might wish to work. We expect to publish a paper setting out our intentions later in the summer.

Telecommunications

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated cost is of providing the necessary telecommunications infrastructure to enable broadband Internet access across Scotland.

Ms Wendy Alexander: The Scottish Executive is developing a strategy for stimulating wider provision of higher bandwidth services. We are focusing on the impact that could be made by aggregating public sector demand. It is too early to estimate associated procurement costs.

Telecommunications

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the timetable is for providing the necessary telecommunications infrastructure to enable broadband Internet access across Scotland.

Ms Wendy Alexander: The Scottish Executive is committed to universal access to the web by 2005. We are also committed to affordable and pervasive broadband connections and expect to set out a strategy for achieving this later in the summer.

Telecommunications

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what response it has made to the comments by Thus and Cable & Wireless on its broadband strategy, as outlined in Business AM on 5 June 2001.

Ms Wendy Alexander: We have had a series of meetings with individual telecommunications companies including Thus and Cable & Wireless to inform the development of our broadband strategy. We have found the meetings useful and will give companies feedback shortly on our next steps.

Tourism

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will direct Scottish Natural Heritage to (a) allow sufficient time for the application by the National Trust for Scotland for £200,000 assistance with the costs of providing interpretation facilities in the visitors centre at Glencoe to be considered by the Parliament if the Parliament so wishes and (b) carry out a public consultation on whether to award grant for this purpose prior to a decision being reached.

Rhona Brankin: No.

Tourism

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is in relation to any grant which may be awarded by Scottish Natural Heritage to the National Trust for Scotland for the proposed visitors centre at Inverigan, taking into account the study received by the local enterprise company showing the centre’s potentially adverse impact on the local economy.

Rhona Brankin: This is an operational matter for Scottish Natural Heritage.

Waste Management

Dr Sylvia Jackson (Stirling) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-12162 by Mr Sam Galbraith on 4 January 2001, what action it will take to allay public concern over the spreading of blood and gut abattoir waste on land and when it will publish the report by the joint Executive/Food Standards Agency Task Force which is examining how to minimise the exposure of the public to E.coli 0157.

Malcolm Chisholm: The task force on E.coli 0157 advised me recently that its work was almost complete and that it was now preparing the Draft Report in consultation with its 150-strong membership. The task force would then deliver its report at the end of June. Once we have received the report we shall make arrangements to publish it along with our response as soon as possible. We shall respond to the issue of abattoir waste in the light of its findings.

Waste Management

Dorothy-Grace Elder (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-15699 by Rhona Brankin on 22 May 2001, how many notices have been served on landowners to clear their land of illegally dumped material by (a) the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and (b) each local authority in each of the past five years.

Rhona Brankin: The information requested is not held centrally.

Waste Management

Dorothy-Grace Elder (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) landfill site and (b) waste transfer station operators have had their operating licences revoked by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency in each of the past five years, broken down by local authority area.

Rhona Brankin: This is a matter for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency. The information requested is not held centrally.